System and method for recording history of content accessed in a communications network

ABSTRACT

Process steps are provided for electronically sending promotional and advertising materials based upon consumer preferences by providing a unique identifier to a consumer&#39;s electronic mail address and sending electronic mail to the consumer, wherein the electronic mail includes a plurality of embedded Internet web sites. Thereafter, the consumer accesses the plurality of embedded Internet web sites in response to the sent electronic mail, and consumer movement within the plurality of accessed embedded Internet web sites is tracked. Promotional material can then be sent to the consumer based upon the tracked consumer movement within the embedded Internet web sites. Process steps are also provided to track consumer movement without the consumer&#39;s electronic mail address, if the consumer makes a purchase with a credit card while at a seller&#39;s web site. The IP address is linked to the credit card to track consumer movement within the web site.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to electronic commerce and more particularly, toa method for sending promotional material based upon consumer movementwithin a web site.

BACKGROUND

The Internet connects thousands of computers world wide through wellknown protocols, for example, Transmission Control Protocol(TCP)/Internet Protocol (IP), into a vast network. A computer needs aunique Internet Protocol (IP) address to communicate once connected tothe Internet. Information on the Internet is stored world wide ascomputer files, mostly written in the Hypertext Mark Up Language(“HTML”). The collection of all such publicly available computer filesis known as the World Wide Web (WWW).

The WWW is a multimedia-enabled hypertext system used for navigating theInternet and is made up of hundreds of thousands of web pages withimages, text and video files, which can be displayed on a computermonitor. Each web page can have connections to other pages, which may belocated on any computer connected to the Internet.

The WWW is based on the concept of hypertext, where connections fromparts of text to other documents can be hidden behind words and phrases.The connections to hypertexts are referred to as hypertext links andthey allow users to read documents in any order desired.

The WWW also uses hypermedia that connects links to pictures, sounds andany other data files, which can be stored on a computer. Conventionally,hypermedia connects data files regardless of their format.

A typical Internet user uses a client program called a “Web Browser” toconnect to the Internet. A user can connect to the Internet via aproprietary network, such as America Online or CompuServe, or via anInternet Service Provider, e.g., Earthlink.

A Web Browser may run on any computer connected to the Internet.Currently various browsers are available of which two prominent browsersare Netscape Navigator and Microsoft Internet Explorer.

The Web Browser receives and sends requests to a web server and acquiresinformation from the WWW. A web server is a program that, upon receiptof a request, sends the requested document to the requesting user.

A standard naming convention known as Uniform Resource Locator (“URL”)has been adopted to represent hypermedia links and links to networkservices. Most files or service can be represented with a URL. URLsenable Web Browsers to go directly to any file held on any WWW server. AURL typically consists of three parts: the transfer format (the protocoltype), the host name of the machine which holds the file (WWW servername) and the path name to the file.

Information from the WWW is accessed using well-known protocols,including the Hypertext Transport Protocol (“HTTP”), the Wide AreaInformation Service (“WAIS”) and the File Transport Protocol (“FTP”),over TCP/IP protocol. The transfer format for standard WWW pages isHypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP).

The Internet is also integrated with television, smart phones and otherelectronic devices, making electronic commerce a viable option forthousands of consumers and businesses alike. In a typical electroniccommerce transaction, a consumer visits the web site of a seller, viewsan electronic image of a product or witnesses a product demonstrationvia a video/audio stream and may purchase a product or services by usinga credit or debit card.

With the increasing popularity of the Internet, electronic mail(“email”) has become a popular way to communicate. Email allows users tosend text, pictures, video and audio recordings to a recipient or to agroup of recipients.

Typically, a user will create an email message using an email programrunning on a computer that is or can be connected to a network ofcomputers. The email message can include text, recorded and live video,audio files, image files and embedded web site links. Email messagesalso include sender's email address. A user electronically transmitsemail messages to a recipient or a group of recipients. The recipient(s)can read and reply to email messages using an email program running on acomputer.

The Internet is commonly used to send and receive email messages fromanywhere in the world. Every user has a unique email address. Thegeneral form of an email address is given as: User@Domain. com. Domainis defined as the domain name service (“DNS”) that implements theprotocol used for email transfer. The protocol used for electronic mailon the Internet is called the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (“SMTP”),where a user invokes SMTP to send an email.

Retailers and business entities today can conduct large-scale businessin the electronic commerce environment and communicate with thousands ofconsumers via email messages. Advertising materials to consumers canalso be sent via email messages that can contain text, images, videoclips and web site addresses.

Currently, consumers receive electronic advertising material either as apart of a mass email transmission (“email blast”), or when a consumerprovides an individual profile. Both the foregoing options havelimitations. Mass email blasts may not consider what an individualconsumer desires or prefers. Furthermore, getting consumers to provideindividual profiles is difficult because consumers may not willinglyprovide personal information.

Hence, what is needed is a method and system that efficiently andintelligently transmits advertising/promotional material by trackingindividual user preferences.

SUMMARY

The present invention addresses the foregoing by providing a method forelectronically sending promotional material based upon consumerpreferences. A unique identifier is assigned to a consumer electronicmail address and an electronic mail is sent to the consumer, wherein theelectronic mail includes a plurality of embedded Internet web sites.Thereafter, the consumer accesses the plurality of embedded Internet websites, and consumer user movement within the plurality of the accessedembedded Internet web sites is tracked.

Consumer movement within the web site is stored in a log file and thelog file data is used to generate a master database, wherein the masterdatabase comprises of a plurality of segments including an electroniclook up segment, consumer information segment, promotional materialsegment, URL segment, credit card segment and purchase informationsegment. The master database is queried to obtain user tastes andpreferences. Based upon the query results, promotional material is sentto the consumer.

In another aspect of the invention, consumer credit card information isacquired and consumer's movement within a web site is tracked by storingconsumer's IP address corresponding to consumer's credit cardinformation in a log file. Data stored in the log file is used togenerate a master database, wherein the master database comprises of aplurality of segments including an electronic look up segment, consumerinformation segment, promotional material segment, URL segment, creditcard segment and purchase information segment. The master database isqueried to obtain user tastes and preferences. Based upon the queryresults, promotional material is sent to the consumer.

The present invention has the advantage over existing systems because itallows sellers to target potential customers effectively by usingintelligent information regarding consumer tastes and preferences,obtained efficiently by analyzing consumer movement within a web site.

This brief summary has been provided so that the nature of the inventionmay be understood quickly. A more complete understanding of theinvention can be obtained by reference to the following detaileddescription of the preferred embodiments thereof in connection with theattached drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is block diagram of a computing system with a computer connectedto the Internet to carry out the inventive technique.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the architecture of the computing system ofFIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a network topology to carry out theinventive technique.

FIG. 4 is a topology of a network for electronic mail transfer.

FIG. 5 is a basic flow chart showing computer executable process stepsfor sending promotional material to consumers.

FIG. 6A is a topology of a network to implement process steps of FIG. 5.

FIG. 6B is an example of an electronic mail sent to a consumer accordingto one aspect of the present inventive technique.

FIG. 6C shows an example of a seller's web site.

FIG. 7A is an example of a log file generated to track consumer movementwithin a web site with a unique identifier tagged to consumer emailaddress, according to one aspect of the present inventive technique.

FIG. 7B is an example of a log file generated to track consumer movementwithin a web site using credit card information according to one aspectof the present inventive technique.

FIG. 8 is a detailed flow diagram showing computer executable processsteps to create a master database according to one aspect of the presentinvention.

FIG. 9 is an example of a master database according to one aspect of thepresent invention.

FIG. 10 is a flow diagram showing computer executable process steps tocreate a URL segment of the master database.

FIG. 11 is a flow diagram showing computer executable process steps forsending promotional material based upon consumer credit cardinformation.

Use of the same reference symbols in different figures indicates similaror identical items.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a computing system for executing computerexecutable process steps according to the present invention, whichincludes a host computer 10, a monitor 11, and a printer 12. Monitor 11may be a CRT type, a LCD type, or any other type of color or monochromedisplay. Printer 12 may be any type of printer such as an inkjetprinter, laser printer, thermal printer, dot matrix, or the like forprinting Internet documents. Also provided with computer 10 is akeyboard 13 for entering text data and user commands, and a pointingdevice 14 for processing objects displayed on monitor 11.

Computer 10 includes a computer-readable memory medium such as arotating disk 15 for storing readable data. Besides other programs, disk15 stores email programs, log files for tracking user movement within aweb site, application programs including web browsers by which computer10 connects to the Internet, accesses web pages, stores files on disk15, displays data in those web pages on monitor 11, and print data onprinter 12.

Computer 10 can also access a computer-readable floppy disk storing datafiles, application program files, and computer executable process stepsembodying the present invention or the like via a floppy disk drive 16.A CD-ROM interface (not shown) may also be provided with computer 10 toaccess application program files and data files stored on a CD-ROM.

A modem, an integrated services digital network (ISDN) connection, orthe like also provides computer 10 with an Internet connection 17 to theWorld Wide Web (WWW). The Internet connection 17 allows computer 10 todownload device drivers, data files, image files, log files, applicationprogram files and computer-executable process steps embodying thepresent invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the internal functional architectureof computer 10. As shown in FIG. 2, computer 10 includes a CPU 201 forexecuting computer-executable process steps and interfaces with acomputer bus 209. Also shown in FIG. 2 are a printer interface 202, aWWW interface 203, a display device interface 204, a keyboard interface205, a pointing device interface 206 and disk 15.

As described above, disk 15 stores operating system program files,application program files, web browsers, log files and device drivers.Some of these files are stored on disk 15 using an installation program.For example, CPU 201 executes computer-executable process steps of aninstallation program so that CPU 201 can properly execute theapplication program.

A random access main memory (“RAM”) 207 also interfaces to computer bus209 to provide CPU 201 with access to memory storage. When executingstored computer-executable process steps from disk 15 (or other storagemedia such as floppy disk 16 or WWW connection 17), CPU 201 stores andexecutes the process steps out of RAM 207.

Read only memory (“ROM”) 208 is provided to store invariant instructionsequences such as start-up instruction sequences or basic input/outputoperating system (BIOS) sequences for operation of keyboard 13.

FIG. 3 shows a topology of a computer network with computers similar tocomputer 10, connected to the Internet. For illustration purposes, onlythree computers X, Y and Z are shown connected to the Internet 302 viaWeb Interface 203 through a gateway 301,.where gateway 301 can interfaceN number of computers. Web interface 203 may be a modem, networkinterface card or a unit for providing connectivity to other computersystems over a network using protocols such as X.25, Ethernet or TCP/IP,or any device that allows directly or indirectly, computer-to-computercommunications.

It is noteworthy that the invention is not limited to a particularnumber of computers. Any number of computers that can be connected tothe Internet 302 or a network may be used.

FIG. 3 further shows a second gateway 303 that connects a network of webservers 304 and 305 to the Internet 302. Web servers 304 and 305 may beconnected with each other over a computer network. Web servers 304 and305 can provide content to a user from database 306 and 307. Also shownin FIG. 3 is a client side web server 308 that can be provided by anInternet service provider.

FIG. 4 shows the topology of a network that allows sending emails toconsumers using computer 10, or a similar computer that can be connectedto a network and/or the Internet. In FIG. 4, computer 10 is connected toa mail server 402 via a communication server 401. Mail server 402 isconnected to other computer networks including the Internet 302. Mailserver 402 receives email messages with advertising and promotionalmaterials and causes email messages to be sent to consumers with anemail address.

Tracking Consumer Movement Within a Website:

FIG. 5 is a flow diagram showing computer executable process stepsaccording to the present invention for tracking consumer movement withina web site. Generally, the FIG. 5 process steps include acquiring aplurality of consumer email addresses, applying a unique identifier toeach acquired email address, sending emails with a web site address to aconsumer having a unique email identifier, initiating a web site by theconsumer in response to the sent email, tracking consumer movementwithin the website, creating a consumer profile based upon theconsumer's movement within the web site, and sending promotionalmaterial based upon the consumer's profile.

More particularly, flow begins at step S501, in which a consumer's emailaddress is acquired. The email address may be acquired at a retail storewhere a customer purchases merchandise (“Point of Sale”). Furthermore,email addresses may be solicited from Internet users visiting aparticular web site, acquired from other businesses and databases etc.

In step S502, the acquired email address is stored in a computer systemsimilar to computer 10 connected to the Internet 302.

FIG. 6A shows a topology of a computer network to implement processsteps of FIG. 5. FIG. 6A shows a computer 600 similar to computer 10,and connected to the Internet and having a seller's web site. Also shownin FIG. 6A is a log file 601, an email database 604 that stores emailsacquired in step S501, an extraction program 602 and a report generatingmodule 603 stored on computer 600 or at different computers connected tothe Internet. The foregoing file, database, program and modules can beinterlinked as separate modules located at different computers connectedto the Internet, or can be combined into one single program. FIG. 6Afurther shows a Consumer M with computer 10 or a computer similar tocomputer 10 connected to the Internet 302.

In step S503, the acquired email address is provided with a uniqueidentifier. The unique identifier can be information related to theconsumer, or a random alphanumeric character. The unique identifier doesnot affect the consumer's ability to receive and send email.

In step S504, an email blast with the seller's web site address is sentto consumers whose email addresses have a unique identifier. FIG. 6Bshows an example of an email 604A sent to Consumer M with the emailaddress ConsumerM@dgo.com. The email has an embedded URL 606,http://www.mystore.com/?XXXX sent by Retail Store 605. The web pageassociated with URL 606 can include links to other web pages located ondifferent web servers. In the example of FIG. 6B, “XXXX” after the “?”is the unique identifier assigned to the email address of consumer M. Itis noteworthy that the unique identifier is not limited to anyparticular set of alphanumeric characters.

In step S505, Consumer M accesses the web site corresponding to URL 606either by clicking on URL 606 by pointing device 14, or by typing theURL 606 address by keyboard 13.

FIG. 6C shows a typical web page 611 displayed on monitor screen 11, ina web browser 607 on Consumer M's computer similar to computer 10. FIG.6C also shows various modules in web site 611, for example a productsmodule 608 that allows Consumer M to view products or provideinformation regarding products, purchasing module 609 that allowsConsumer M to purchase any products on-line and a contact module 610that allows Consumer M to contact the retail store. Other modules can beadded to web site 611. The foregoing modules can be located on differentcomputers connected to the Internet.

In step S506, web server 600 logs the URL address with a uniqueidentifier and a corresponding IP address for Consumer M's computer,tracks Consumer M's movement within web site 611 and stores all the dataassociated with Consumer M's IP address in a log file. Consumer M'smovement is tracked by first identifying the IP address with a uniqueidentifier, and thereafter, the IP address is tracked when Consumer Mvisits the various links within web site 611.

FIG. 7A shows an example of a log file 700 with an IP address 701, anemail unique identifier 703 and the date and time of Consumer M's visit702 to the web site that provides the duration of the visit. Informationlogged can include all the web page addresses of the web sites thatConsumer M visits, wherein the web sites includes web pages located on aplurality of web servers, duration of the visits, and product purchased.

In step S507, extraction module 602 extracts information correspondingto the IP address 701 with a unique identifier 702. Information from thelog file 700 can be extracted in real time while Consumer M is on-lineor at any predetermined time interval.

In step S508, report-generating module 603 generates a report based uponConsumer M's movement within web page 611. Factors considered increating the report include the type of modules visited, e.g., whetherthe user visited the clothing module, wine module or other productmodules, duration of the visit and if the user purchased any item duringthe visit. FIG. 8 below describes detail process steps to create amaster database for generating such a report.

In step S509, a second email is sent to Consumer M based upon ConsumerM's tastes and preferences determined by analyzing Consumer M's movementwithin web site 611.

Creating a Master Database Based Upon a Consumer's Movement Within a WebSite:

FIG. 8 describes process steps to create a master database based uponconsumer movement within a web site. The master database providesinformation regarding consumer choices and preferences.

In step S801, extraction module 602 acquires log file 601.

In step S802, extraction module 602 extract's consumer movementinformation within a web site tracked by a consumer's uniqueidentification number and recorded in log file 601.

In step S803, a master database is created based upon the extractedinformation.

FIG. 9 shows a typical database 900 that can be created from theextracted consumer information. FIG. 9 shows an email look up segment901 that has email addresses and corresponding unique identificationnumbers for all consumers with tagged email addresses. A userinformation segment 902 includes details regarding consumer backgroundincluding consumer identification number, telephone number, address,referral type, date the record was created, date consumer identificationwas deactivated and reason for deactivation and key codes correspondingto keywords associated with web sites that the consumer has visited.

FIG. 9 also shows a promotion segment 903 that includes informationregarding promotional material sent to consumers. The promotion segment903 includes consumer identification number, promotion identificationnumber, date a particular promotion was sent, date the promotion wasvisited by the consumer, amount of time spent at the web site whilevisiting the promotion and any specific areas the consumer visited andkey codes associated with key words corresponding to defined URLs.

FIG. 9 further shows a purchasing segment 904 that provides transactiondetails when a consumer purchases products while at a web site that maybe located at any web server. Purchasing module 904 includes informationregarding consumer identification number, a promotion identificationnumber, date of purchase, product name, product type, productidentification code, cost and quantity purchased.

Also shown in FIG. 9 are a URL segment 905, a referral segment 906 and acredit card segment 907. URL segment 905 includes URL addresses,keywords corresponding to URL addresses and key codes associated withthe keywords.

FIG. 10 describes process steps for developing URL segment 905. StepS1001 obtains URL addresses with corresponding keywords. There arevarious ways to obtain URL addresses with keywords. For example, aseller could provide a list of URLs with associated keywords, or websites associated with particular URLs can be manually visited andanalyzed for determining keywords, or an automatic Internet crawlermechanism may be used to automatically obtain web sites associated withparticular URL's and then analyzed for keywords.

In step S1002, assign unique key codes to keywords obtained in stepS1001. For example, a single numeric key code can be assigned to a groupof keywords in the website with a URL address. The key code assigned inURL segment 905, as shown in FIG. 9 is also a data field in promotionsegment 903.

Referral segment 906 includes information regarding consumeridentification numbers, referral source identification information andthe dates the consumers are referred.

Credit card segment 907 includes information regarding credit card type,date of purchase, amount spent and merchandise or services bought. FIG.11 describes in detail how Credit Card segment 907 is populated andutilized according to the present invention.

In step S804, master database 900 is queried to generate a user profilefor sending promotional material. Various query options can be used togather consumer information. For example, information regardingconsumers that have purchased a product may be obtained from purchasingmodule 904. Information regarding consumers that have spent a minimumamount of time at the web site can be obtained from promotion segment903. Keyword search can be performed by using key codes after acquiringkey codes from URL segment 905 and then conducting a search in promotionsegment 903. Hence master database 900 may be queried in different waysto obtain information regarding consumer taste, habit and preferences.Master database 900 can also be used to deactivate consumers who do notrespond to any promotional materials or do not purchase any items, orhave an invalid email address or if removal is requested by theconsumer.

In step S805, promotional material is sent to consumers based uponconsumer preferences obtained after querying master database 900.

Credit Card Segment:

FIG. 11 shows computer executable process steps for tracking consumermovement within a seller's web site based upon user credit cardinformation.

In step S1101, acquire consumer credit card information includingconsumer name and address. This information may be acquired when aconsumer visits a seller's web site and purchases any item includingmerchandise or services. The consumer provides a credit card number,consumer name and consumer address. If the consumer provides an emailaddress, then process steps of FIG. 5 can be applied to send promotionalmaterials.

In step S1102, track consumer movement after consumer has purchased anitem from seller's website with a credit card. Consumer's movement istracked by tracking consumer's IP address linked to Consumer's creditcard information, and storing consumer movement in a log file similar tothe log file shown in FIG. 7B. The log file shown in FIG. 7B includesconsumer's IP address 704, date and time of consumer visit 705, creditcard number 706, credit card type 707, product number 708, quantitypurchased 709, cost 710 and product description 711.

In step S1103, generate consumer profile using credit card segment 907,similar to process step S508 of FIG. 5 and step 804 of FIG. 8.

In step S1104, send promotional material to consumer. Promotionalmaterial may be send electronically if email address was acquired instep S1101 or via regular mail since the street address was acquired instep S1101.

Although the present invention has been described with reference tospecific embodiments, these embodiments are illustrative only and notlimiting. Many other applications and embodiments of the presentinvention will be apparent in light of this disclosure and the followingclaims.

1. A method for recording history of content accessed on a web server,the method comprising: receiving a first uniform resource locator (URL)from a client computer to access a web server's content, wherein thefirst URL comprises a unique identifier (UID), the first URL identifyinga first content and the UID identifying a user using the clientcomputer; sending the first content identified by the first URL to theclient computer; recording an IP Address in association with the firstURL, comprising the UID, in a first log entry; recording the IP Addressand a second URL, not comprising the UID, in a second log entry, inresponse to receiving the second URL from the client computer to accessa second content on the web server, wherein information in said at leastone of the first and second log entries provides a history of contentrequested by the user. 2-74. (canceled)
 75. A method for recordinghistory of content accessed on a web server, the method comprising:receiving a first content identifier in a first request from a clientcomputer to access a web server's content, wherein the first contentidentifier comprises a first unique identifier; sending a first contentidentified by the first content identifier to the client computer, inresponse to the first request; recording the first content identifiercomprising the first unique identifier in a first log entry inassociation with a second unique identifier, wherein: the second uniqueidentifier identifies the client computer, and the first uniqueidentifier identifies a requesting party using the client computer; andrecording a second content identifier in a second log entry inassociation with the second unique identifier, in response to receivinga second request from the client computer to access second content onthe web server, wherein information in said at least one of the firstand second log entries provides a history of content requested by therequesting party.
 76. The method of claim 75, wherein the first requestis submitted to the web server in response to the requesting partyactively selecting the first content identifier in an interactivedocument.
 77. The method of claim 76, wherein the interactive documentis forwarded to the requesting party in an email message generated by athird party.
 78. The method of claim 75, wherein the first contentidentifier is a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) referencing a firstcontent stored on the web server.
 79. The method of claim 75, whereinthe first unique identifier is an email address of the requesting party.80. The method of claim 75, wherein the second content identifier is aUniform Resource Locator (URL) referencing a second content stored onthe web server.
 81. A method of recording history of content requestedfrom a web server, the method comprising: in response to a user activelyselecting a hyperlink included in an email message sent to the user'semail address, a web server receiving a first URL comprising an embeddeduser identifier from a client computer used by the user to receive theemail message, (1) the first URL identifying a first content provided bythe web server for display on the client computer, (2) the useridentifier identifying the user, and (3) an origination identifierassociated with the client computer; in response to the web serverreceiving the first URL, sending the first content identified by thefirst URL to the client computer; recording the origination identifierin association with the user identifier in a first log entry to define afirst association between the client computer and the user,respectively; in response to the user interacting with the first contentdisplayed on the client computer, the web server receiving a second URLfrom the client computer, wherein the second URL identifies a secondcontent provided by the web server for display on the client computer;and recording the origination identifier in association with the secondURL in a second log entry, to define a second association between theclient computer and the second content, respectively, wherein theorigination identifier defines a common relationship between the firstassociation and the second association to provide a history of contentrequested by the user from the web server based on URL informationrecorded in the log entries.
 82. The method of claim 81, wherein theorigination identifier corresponds to an IP address of the clientcomputer.
 83. The method of claim 81, wherein the origination identifiercorresponds to an operating system of the client computer.
 84. Themethod of claim 81, wherein the origination identifier corresponds to anenvironment variable uniquely identifying the client computer.
 85. Themethod of claim 81, further comprising parsing the information stored inthe log entries to determine the user's preferences based on the commonrelationship between the first association and the second association.